Feinstein pushes two Hispanic judges

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, an influential member of the Judiciary Committee, wants President Barack Obama to consider two Hispanic judges from California as he reviews candidates to replace Justice David Souter on the Supreme Court.

The California Democrat, who placed a phone call to the White House on Tuesday morning, is pitching the names of Kim Wardlaw, who is a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, and Carlos Moreno, an associate justice of the state’s Supreme Court. Wardlaw was nominated to the court by President Bill Clinton in 1998 and is the first Hispanic judge appointed to that court of appeals.

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Moreno is a former head of the Mexican American Bar Association and was picked by then-Gov. Gray Davis for the state’s highest court in 2001.

Feinstein’s recommendations are among the many being made by senators who want special consideration for their own personal picks. On Monday, Sens. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) wrote a letter to the president asking that he pick a woman to replace Souter.

“I hope at some point he will consider somebody from outside the judicial monastery,” Leahy said, while promising that a new justice will be confirmed by the time the new Supreme Court session starts in September.

Feinstein said Obama has to be “sensitive to the ability to get a nominee confirmed” and suggested he try to avoid a partisan fight — despite the fact that the large Senate majority may allow Democrats to push through a controversial nominee.

“I think there is merit in avoiding a partisan fight, getting somebody in his first appointment, who is solid, who is experienced, who has the judicial temperament, knowledge, skill, who understands how the law affects people's lives.”

Feinstein added that while someone who is not a jurist — like Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm — can “absolutely” be a justice, she said that “the trial court experience is a positive experience for somebody going up to the higher court because they then know what the law really what can do or not do for people.”